The Ghost of You
by Brannasaurus Rex
Summary: Natsu Dragneel has been seeing dead people since before his mind could even wrap around the word. They look, sound and feel human, but the truth is they aren't. Lucy Heartfilia is human, or so he thinks. NALU AU Rated M for a reason.
1. Prologue

(For the ghosts who are never gonna catch me)

I don't know who was the name of the first ghost I ever met. At so young an age, I couldn't tell a ghost apart from a human. A ghost wasn't a white, floating spirit. It looked and felt just as a human, you'd ever see on any given day. The only difference was that the ghosts followed me around and whispered strange things in my ears. They were also invisible to every other person but me.

As a child, I could never understand what they said to me. I didn't even know that I was the only one seeing them. I never spoke to anyone about them because I thought everyone could see them. No one ever mentioned them, and that did not surprise me. I was in a childish ignorance that we are all born with.

When I reached the age of five, I remember stepping out of my car, my parents bodies still, and cold. Their shirts were covered in red pools and shards of glittery glass that reflected the stars, dug into their skin, and buried themselves into their hair. During the crash I had hit my head on some object in the car, creating a large gash on the side of my head. A piece of broken glass had also wedged itself into my neck and I bit back tears. My mother and father were dead and I was alone.

I couldn't be the big boy my father's last words had pleaded for me to be. I wailed, huge sounds that echoed in the empty silence. I was surrounded in glass and metal and blood and I could not find the strength to leave.

When I had finally calmed, I finally noticed the ghosts of my parents wrapping their arms around me. They whispered soothing words that made me feel warm and safe.

I looked at their lifeless bodies and back at the people hugging me, and I knew then, I was seeing ghosts. For some unknown reason, I was seeing the dead. I screamed.

When the sirens finally reached the wreckage, the men called out to me and I ran to them in fear. Flashing red, blue, and white lights meant that the police were here. I felt at the least, a little more safer, now that they were here. I was screaming about ghosts and dead people, and I was surprised no one understood me.

One man with long red hair, tied back in a ponytail, was smoking and watching me. He made no sound as I screamed at everyone to help me. When I finally reached him I was struck with the sudden feeling that I should be silent. I stood before him, looking up at his towering height. He flicked an ash off the end of his cigarette and squatted, so that his eyes were on the same level as mine.

"What did you say about ghosts, kid?"

He smelled like fire and cigarette smoke, which was somehow comforting.

"They're real. I bet you don't believe me."

He blew a puff, the smoke swirling in pretty patterns in the air.

"Doesn't matter what I think, what matters is what the truth is."

The look in his eye intimidated me, as if he was looking at me like I was a man, and not a child.

"I see them. They follow me around and tell me stories. I saw my mom and dad, but they're dead aren't they?"

From the dark of the night I could barely see the flash of recollection in his eyes before he sighed. He was scratching the back of his head in thought.

"Yeah. No sense lying, since you've already seen their ghosts."

My heart sped. I wasn't crazy, someone else saw them too.

"Can you see them? Do ghosts follow you?"

The man stood, crushing the cigarette butt in the ground before shoving it back into the pack. (He was a man of the law, he might as well follow it by not littering.) He grabbed my hand and took me to the paramedics truck.

"Something like that."

He grabbed my shoulders and looked me sternly in the eye.

"Listen, kid, what's your name?"

My voice squeaked in a very girly way.

"Natsu."

"Well, Natsu, you can't tell anyone about these things, alright. It will be our little secret."

I gulped and nodded my head.

He clapped my back before walking away. I listened to the soothing words of the paramedic as they cleaned the blood off of me. After awhile, I forgot they were there. I was listening closely to the ponytail man's conversation with another officer.

"What are we gonna do about the kid, Igneel?"

Said man, answered without hesitation.

"I'll take him home with me."

The other officer, a fat man with greying brown hair, laughed, his beer belly jumping with it.

"You can't take home a kid who recently lost his parents, just because you're a little lonely."

Inside, I was leaping for joy.

"I can do what I damn well please, and it has nothing to do with me. I see a little bit of myself in him."

The other man patted Igneel's back.

"I understand. Though, if I ever brought a stray kid home, Marie would have my throat. But then again, your woman is gone isn't she?"

The man with red hair didn't speak.

"Thanks for this Igneel, it clears up a lot of extra paperwork and overtime on my part."

The fat man walked away, chuckling to himself.

Igneel turned back to me and caught my eye. He smirked at my immediate reaction of jerking my head away.

"You know, if you're going to eavesdrop, you could certainly do better."

I tried to act as if I didn't understand what he meant.

When the woman finished bandaging my neck and forehead, she told me I was good to go. Where was I to go?

The man named Igneel grabbed my hand and tugged me away. He took me to his car, buckling me in the back.

When the car started, and we drove away from the scene, my eyes catching the last sight of my parents ever, I couldn't help tears forming in my eyes. Their ghosts waved, smiles etched into their faces. I was no longer their son.

I turned back around and caught Igneel's eyes on me from the mirror.

"Where are we going?"

His eyes flickered back to the road. I noticed the clock on the dashboard read 2:37 AM, way past my bedtime. Even with the circumstances, I felt my heart get a little excited that I didn't have my parents to tell me when bedtime was. I felt that this man I had just met, would be fun.

I heard him say a word to me that hit, every time I remembered it. A new adventure was waiting for a strange child like me.

"Home."

That was how I came to claim Igneel as my father, and how my life slowly spiralled in crazy ways after that.

* * *

 **Hello readers. Welcome to my world of sadness. Yay. You just signed up for something dangerous.**

 **Anyway, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule and reading my trash.**

 **I think you should stalk me and check out my other fics because they are so much better than this one.**

 **Updates are coming soon, don't panic. Lol.**

 **Review, and tell me how you felt about it.**

 **Even though its at a currently boring stage.**

 **-Brannasaurus Rex**


	2. Dream

(i never said I'd lie and wait forever, if I died, we'd be together)

Years pass, and I grow. The ghosts, coming and going in a never-ending stream of real and unreal. Though my life was generally impacted by the lives of the spirits of the dead, there was only one who had carved the deepest wound in my soul. At the time, I did not know her true form, and neither did she mine. Ignorance guided us and deluded us, until we had learned of our destiny's.

I'm old now. Way too old for comfort. Technically I shouldn't be living, but I am. My body feels alive, but my mind feels dead, and I'm trapped without her. It isn't torment though, my only solace is knowing her energy still lives.

You probably don't understand anything I'm saying, so I'll start from the beginning. Or at least, what is close _enough_ to the beginning.

At twenty years of age, my life changed, once again.

* * *

 _I'm stumbling in the woods. Trees surround me in every direction, like a cage, ensnaring it's victim. The thick trunks block my view from an exit, and their height make it impossible for me to search a way out above ground. On both sides of me is the stale, earthy brown of the bark, and the never-ending sea of green, sprouting from every bit of visible earth. Moss crawls across the bark of the trees, blanketing the wood from the wet drizzle of raindrops. The undergrowth is thick with verde stems and leaves, that scratch the flesh of my legs. Decaying, paper-like sheafs of brown and orange fall from the towering trees, and layer the ground with a carpet of rustic tan._

 _The rain stains my skin, dripping off of my body, leaving long trails of water in its wake. The thin material of my clothes have long since been drenched underneath the sweltering drops. The wet locks on my head, hang low, and conceal my eyes underneath their pressed wetness. The cold seeps through my skin, filling my pores to the brim with the fat drops. The rain presses me down, as if it wanted me to not discover the whereabouts of the phenomena I had been desperately searching for, for what felt like hours._

 _Underneath my fingernails, a layer of dirt cakes my fingers. My face has been scrubbed with dirt and leaves, discoloring my skin with mud. My clothes are now a permanent shade of brown and green, as if I were becoming part of the forest myself. I can feel a layer of griminess slowly wash away, as the soft rain soaks me to the bone._

 _It is calm. The only disturbance seeming to be my loud thrashing in the brush and the pink hair on my head, clashing with the jade tint of the forest. Though now, the salmon, unruly color is tainted with murky brown. What could be seen of the unnatural hue, was now a darker shade of wet, matted locks. My breathing is erratic, my heart pounding in my chest. Though I was very much alone, I feared that someone would hear me, and attempt to steal the object of my searching._

 _I was running, and very exhausted because of it. The only thing that keeps my legs from tumbling underneath me, is the feeling of being so close. I don't know how long I've been searching, and I don't even know what I'm looking for, but I feel as if I'm a mere twenty feet away. But as ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred feet, pass me in a blur, I find nothing. I'm lost in this pool of jade, and no matter how far I run, I can't find what I'm looking for, much less an escape._

 _My limbs bleed as I run, harsh thorns gripping my skin as I pass, leaving long scratches that will surely scar. The crimson liquid rolls down my arms, and swirls with the water dripping from my fingertips. I don't feel the abrasions, I continue to run blindly. I don't count the seconds, minutes, or even the hours, but I notice it takes too long before I hear her laugh._

 _The sound was light, the laughs warm and somehow inviting. Like tinkling bells, her laugh rang in my was so quiet, I barely picked it up. The sound should not have been heard over the tumultuous pounding of the water pouring from the sky. But I heard it nonetheless. Perhaps the reason was because I felt so linked to her. I feel as if she stands beside me now, her lovely voice whispering in my ear, her gentle warmth enveloping me, protecting me from the chilled rain._

 _I don't even know who she is. All I know, is that she is what I'm looking for, and I'd do anything to feel her real touch on my skin._

 _Freezing in spot, I listened, cocking my head to the side. My heart and my breath sounded loud in my ears and I tried to slow them. Silence enveloped the forest again, and I longed to hear her. It was like music to my ears. My body, poised for attack, was still, my ears anticipating her voice._

 _Suddenly I heard her voice call out to me, somewhere to the left of me. She is so close, my skin tingles._

' _Natsu.'_

 _I'm off in split seconds, my feet tripping me as I run to the voice. She calls to me, her voice beckoning for my willing soul to come to her._

' _Natsu, where are you?'_

 _I'm coming._

 _I can't make the words come from my mouth, it's as if my mouth can't move. The words are glued to the back of my tongue, their weight preventing any reply._

 _When I push through the undergrowth, I find myself in a small clearing. The air is much different, the moisture permeating the air was less dense, and I could breath easier. A small pool of crystalline water rippled. It was then I noticed the woman._

 _She stood before the pool, gazing down into her reflection, watching the water go by. Her soft body leaned onto a tree, one of her tiny hands clinging to the wood, her back pressed against its sturdy frame. Long, willowy strands, hung from the stretched branches, shifted will the lull of the gentle wind. Instead of eerie silence, I heard the sound of bird song, and the sweetness of her humming voice. My being began to shiver._

 _She was wearing a long, soft, gown that followed her movements, and clung to her skin in just the right places. The material on her looked like a pale layer of snow. Her lengthy, golden hair, cascaded down her back in gentle waves, slightly shifting as she moved._

 _She drifted her toes in the water, making occasional splashing noises._

 _Overcome by the sight of her, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of relief. I found it, or more accurately, her. She was safe._

 _Watching her, I felt dirty and unfit for her eyes to find me. What were her eyes like? This strange woman, made me feel as if I knew her. This was a dream, wasn't it? Nevertheless, I was filled with an emotion I seldom ever felt, and I wanted to touch her. Even if it meant staining her, I must leave my mark on her, claiming her as mine. Even if a slight brush of my fingertips would burn away her ethereal flesh, I wanted to touch her. If I could stay here for eternity, just in her presence, I would be content._

 _Rising up from the pleasant feelings, came fear, and confusion. I don't know this woman, and she could be taken from me so easily._

 _I'm unaware of what compels me to move, but I do. I stepped forward, crackling a twig, abruptly cutting her song off. The echo of the noise screamed intruder, and I suddenly felt vulnerable. Time seemed to slow as the faint snap echoed._

 _She turned, smiling, but I slipped into a hole that previously wasn't there, tumbling into a deep abyss of nothing. I never saw her eyes, just the burning smile that etched into my brain._

I fell until I woke up.

My body was sweaty and feverish. A thick layer of sweat drowned me as I sat up quickly. The blood rushed to my head, making my vision go black for a couple seconds. I was panting, the rate of my heart, faster then ever before. My naked chest rose and fell at an alarming speed.

I chugged the glass of water I thankfully put out last night. The liquid was gone, faster than expected.

While I waited for myself to calm, I tried to recollect everything that I had just dreamt. The only thing I could remember, was a flash of gold and a smile that made my heart turn into a weird puddle.

I heard somewhere that dreams were visions in your subconscious, of things with a ring of truth. They had some meaning to you, and was a representation of things you were thinking about constantly. I had never seen a woman with that hair, or that smile, so I'll have to sue whoever made up that shit.

It was then, when I had finally collected my thoughts, my fingers brushed the skin of my face, and they came up wet. Trails of salt trickled down my cheeks. I, Natsu Dragneel, was crying while asleep.

Damn, if Gray knew that…

* * *

I don't know where the dream came from. But it isn't long before I get a semblance of an answer, and the appearance of the mystery woman. It doesn't even last twenty-four hours.

Her chocolate eyes bore into mine, pleading for my rescue. The same eyes of the woman, I had previously, so desperately wanted to protect.

Something like a rubber band snapping, sprang in my chest. It lasted only milliseconds, like a bolt of electricity, energy surged through me, pouring from the connection between the depths of our eyes.

My fist came in contact with the man's face, before I even knew I had formed one.

* * *

 **Thank you for waiting patiently. I've had this chapter written for quite some time, and for a while, I was not pleased with it.**

 **This may be slightly confusing. You tell me.**

 **This is Natsu's dream, and there is a time skip, but I'm adding more to it in upcoming chapters.**

 **Next chapter, the POV will be switched to Lucy.**

 **So excited for this fic..OMG**

 **Review and stuff**


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